tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post3168056742594659268..comments2016-12-09T08:25:17.341-05:00Comments on Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Capital of former Belgian Congo / WED 8-25-10 / Locale of Britain's first Christian martyr / * City Tampa neighborhood / Rowdies in British slangRex Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comBlogger110125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-79479963329995955782010-09-30T00:47:58.207-04:002010-09-30T00:47:58.207-04:00From Syndication-Land:
I wanted M*A*S*H for the s...From Syndication-Land:<br /><br />I wanted <i>M*A*S*H</i> for the sitcom with a character named B.J. Entering that hung me up a bit, but eventually I twigged to the B theme.<br /><br />This was more on the challenging side for me, because I&#39;d get just a few clues and then have a burst of inspiration, then another mostly dry spell, and so on. But I was also doing the crossword in class, and so I divided my attention between it and the class discussion.<br /><br />I got REBEC just from the terminal C. That&#39;s what I get for having an interest in early music.<br /><br />I liked BELL LABS for the same reason you did (it reminded me of the CROSS SWORDS answer in <i>Wordplay</i>) and I liked the medieval music consort in the middle of the page, but otherwise I mainly treated this as a themeless puzzle.Nullifidianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15207390447020990907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-66370366004008828102010-09-29T16:24:32.387-04:002010-09-29T16:24:32.387-04:00I thought it was fun, but our paper version just h...I thought it was fun, but our paper version just had the &quot;unusual in a certain way, can you identify how&quot; clue. I stamped little ink flowers over all the b&#39;s to see if they made a pattern, which they sort-of do, but not really. So it was a bit of a let-down to find that just having b&#39;s was it. I hadn&#39;t noticed, though, that <i>everything</i> had b&#39;s.wcutlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08615799228069705972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-37330124108185557282010-09-29T11:08:56.395-04:002010-09-29T11:08:56.395-04:00BAH!BAH!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-21180327575804080592010-08-25T23:16:17.830-04:002010-08-25T23:16:17.830-04:00Couldn&#39;t read all the comments but I was surpr...Couldn&#39;t read all the comments but I was surprised not to see mention of the Tower of BABEL anywhere.fergushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17056002311944010536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-3839744477916767202010-08-25T22:47:32.831-04:002010-08-25T22:47:32.831-04:00@ SanFranMan59- ah, you are just a youngster. I th...@ SanFranMan59- ah, you are just a youngster. I thought from the maturity of your posts that you were older.....<br /><br />R_C<br /><br />(dogguy1940 on Yahoo for pretty much the same reason)retired_chemisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13181126754941899228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-16700137290302788672010-08-25T22:39:41.983-04:002010-08-25T22:39:41.983-04:00Super easy - the only thing that slowed me down wa...Super easy - the only thing that slowed me down was having to write in the little boxes - not worth the ink I used! Pah!Gracehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375945397618061687noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-60634357465857315962010-08-25T22:17:25.361-04:002010-08-25T22:17:25.361-04:00This week&#39;s relative difficulty ratings. See m...This week&#39;s relative difficulty ratings. See my <a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=35115061&amp;postID=3588389571383499624&amp;isPopup=true" rel="nofollow">7/30/2009 post</a> for an explanation. In a nutshell, the higher the ratio, the higher this week&#39;s median solve time is relative to the average for the corresponding day of the week.<br /><br />All solvers (this week&#39;s median solve time, average for day of week, ratio, percentile, rating)<br /><br />Mon 6:50, 6:58, 0.98, 48%, Medium<br />Tue 10:16, 8:54, 1.15, 87%, Challenging<br />Wed 11:27, 11:44, 0.98, 48%, Medium<br /><br />Top 100 solvers<br /><br />Mon 3:37, 3:43, 0.98, 43%, Medium<br />Tue 5:01, 4:35, 1.10, 81%, Challenging<br />Wed 5:38, 5:46, 0.98, 52%, Medium<br /><br />Thanks for all the birthday wishes everyone and a happy one to you as well, @Noam.<br /><br />@r_c ... not yet! The 59 is my birth year (otherwise I&#39;d need to change my online name every year)sanfranman59http://www.blogger.com/profile/15118732156312301425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-45038802822695396682010-08-25T21:55:04.476-04:002010-08-25T21:55:04.476-04:00did no one pick up on the Swedish band crossing t...did no one pick up on the Swedish band crossing the Swedish auto? I enjoyed that. and the puzzle as a whole.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-89410913788571238882010-08-25T20:32:03.306-04:002010-08-25T20:32:03.306-04:00It&#39;s a mathematical day! Noam&#39;s birthday. ...It&#39;s a mathematical day! Noam&#39;s birthday. Sanfranman&#39;s Birthday! A record number of B&#39;s!<br /><br />I&#39;ve never met anyone who truly loves numbers and is a bad person. Happy Birthday gentle people!<br /><br />For some reason, I had wanted to be the 100th poster today. Oh well. It was fun to read all 101 comments!<br /><br />And my captcha is blesse. I don&#39;t know if it means almost blessed, or wounded in French.foodiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13052189131129098616noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-64270218219253597622010-08-25T20:26:46.269-04:002010-08-25T20:26:46.269-04:00Just noting that the Beeb is a perfectly acceptabl...Just noting that the Beeb is a perfectly acceptable abbr (sic) for the BBC in my part of the planet.<br /><br />Happy birthday anyone whose birthday it is.Ceahttp://jamsandchutney.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-79011347189047932162010-08-25T20:17:47.348-04:002010-08-25T20:17:47.348-04:00@sanfranman59 &amp; @Noam ... Happy Birthday to yo...@sanfranman59 &amp; @Noam ... Happy Birthday to you both!!! (And many more ...)johohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12708487230515532492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-28930228704104774732010-08-25T20:12:35.953-04:002010-08-25T20:12:35.953-04:00Happy B-day to Noam! and SanFranMan59! Is he now S...Happy B-day to Noam! and SanFranMan59! Is he now SanFranMan60?retired_chemisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13181126754941899228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-2647110706703920932010-08-25T19:39:57.112-04:002010-08-25T19:39:57.112-04:00Also Happy B-day to Noam!
And I, too, wanted MASH...Also Happy B-day to Noam!<br /><br />And I, too, wanted MASH for BJ, but MASH doesn&#39;t have a b in it.Shamikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11635283729322415150noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-87534907146505691402010-08-25T19:38:37.469-04:002010-08-25T19:38:37.469-04:00@sanfranman: Happy B-day! How appropriate!
5:21 m...@sanfranman: Happy B-day! How appropriate!<br /><br />5:21 makes it an easy Wednesday for me. I didn&#39;t read the notepad and I just liked it because it buzzed along.Shamikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11635283729322415150noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-16851377887832075162010-08-25T19:12:31.870-04:002010-08-25T19:12:31.870-04:00Thanks to all for the B-day wishes!
Noted on the ...Thanks to all for the B-day wishes!<br /><br />Noted on the NYTimes Blog: the 48 B&#39;s in this grid include every corner and (as in the constructor&#39;s surname) the central square. Also (not surprisingly) a record number of B&#39;s in a 15x15 grid, burying the previous record of 20.<br /><br />NDENoam B. Elkiesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-55930002466879819392010-08-25T19:01:17.174-04:002010-08-25T19:01:17.174-04:00@Rex - Now you have to explain to Noam what &quot;...@Rex - Now you have to explain to Noam what &quot;Cheers&quot; is.Zekenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-68902690031984548452010-08-25T18:41:22.226-04:002010-08-25T18:41:22.226-04:00Never noticed that all the clues had bs. Hard to m...Never noticed that all the clues had bs. Hard to miss all the bs in the answers. Unlike most of you, I thought the puzzle was just fine.michaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-5963209773978298722010-08-25T18:36:25.278-04:002010-08-25T18:36:25.278-04:00I think I am over the three rule limit but
@Noam ...I think I am over the three rule limit but<br />@Noam happy b-daychefbeahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15195945085405126511noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-29980759661402669812010-08-25T18:19:59.971-04:002010-08-25T18:19:59.971-04:00@sanfranman59
Skirting around my personal adversi...@sanfranman59<br /><br />Skirting around my personal adversion to making &quot;me too&quot; posts:<br /><br />Ditto what @fikink wrote --- all of it!<br /><br />And following my preview <i>just</i> before you post:<br /><br />@NDE<br /><br />What @Rex wrote!<br /><br />.../GlitchGlitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14940000404613329056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-7682800286976544922010-08-25T18:17:42.954-04:002010-08-25T18:17:42.954-04:00Hah! I believe I learned of YBOR City from this v...Hah! I believe I learned of YBOR City from this very blog! Last year&#39;s day-after-Thanksgiving <a href="http://rexwordpuzzle.blogspot.com/2009/11/1926-english-channel-crosser-friday-nov.html" rel="nofollow">puzzle</a> had a clue whose answer was DADE City. Numerous solvers felt the clue actually described Ybor City.<br /><br />I don&#39;t see cause for the ABBA/ABBAS complaint. They are so different etymologically that I didn&#39;t even notice an apparent overlap until someone mentioned it. Heck, we&#39;ve got BELL LABS crossing BELLES, we&#39;ve got ABIT/ABUT/ABETS, we&#39;ve got BABIES atop BEBE, we&#39;ve got BOSE/SOBE. Some of those are more questionable. But in an all-B puzzle, it&#39;s kind of inevitable.<br /><br />I had originally written in BBC for the Brian Williams network, did not notice that BABC atop was a nonword, and did not catch my error until BEEB. I&#39;m not sure where I first learned of the nickname BEEB: I have vague memories that it was in Alan Moore&#39;s <i>V for Vendetta</i>, but it&#39;s been a long time.william e embanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-60049048981658750712010-08-25T18:12:23.050-04:002010-08-25T18:12:23.050-04:00Okay, I have to jump in for my fourth,
Happy Birth...Okay, I have to jump in for my fourth,<br />Happy Birthday, Naom!fikinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06324570637549775751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-20237566795772065542010-08-25T18:04:54.240-04:002010-08-25T18:04:54.240-04:00&quot;NOAM!&quot; (said in voice of the crowd at &...&quot;NOAM!&quot; (said in voice of the crowd at &quot;Cheers!&quot;)<br /><br />Happy birthday, buddy.<br /><br />rpRex Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-41645891400931466282010-08-25T18:03:01.110-04:002010-08-25T18:03:01.110-04:00@sfman59: Happy B-day to both of us! :-)
NDE
(ca...@sfman59: Happy B-day to both of us! :-)<br /><br />NDE<br /><br />(captcha = cofeende, but I&#39;m a tea drinker...)Noam D. Elkiesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-33171525489032926932010-08-25T17:32:29.573-04:002010-08-25T17:32:29.573-04:00Friendly reminder: there&#39;s a three-comment / d...Friendly reminder: there&#39;s a three-comment / day limit. Thanks, everyone.<br /><br />rpRex Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-3190968719831310012010-08-25T17:31:17.441-04:002010-08-25T17:31:17.441-04:00@Tinbeni - appreciated. :-)
And in case I didn&#3...@Tinbeni - appreciated. :-) <br />And in case I didn&#39;t say it earlier, Happy Belated Birthday!The Big Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00383322329027962325noreply@blogger.com